In depth and mini reviews of movies with a sprinkling of nostalgia and film music musings.

Friday, January 5, 2018

Nostalgia Nugget: Looking Back at 2017

Peering into the future of 2018?

It is time to take a look back at 2017 and a glimpse into
2018. I feel I did a pretty good job providing weekly fresh content on the
site. I ended up focusing a bit more on certain themes over the months, and had
a lot of fun. I also ran a few series through 2017 and helped shake up the mix
a bit.

I started my Goldsmith Award series of Movie Music Musings. These focused on
poorly reviewed or received films with great scores. I kicked this off in
January with 2016 and ran it to July with 2011. I might pick it up this year,
as it was fun to see what films bombed those years and how great some of the
music really was.

February I focused on Robotech.
It was a lot of fun revisiting and really digging into that series. It was
probably the most anime heavy month of the year. I went pretty light with
animation in general. I didn’t even get in a MIyzakii movie review in this
year, and I had Kiki’s Delivery Service
all lined up to watch, but just never got around to it.

Getting Season 11 started.

Instead I ended up focusing a lot of writing on Season 11 of
Mystery Science Theater 3000. It is
a great time to be a fan of the movie riffing puppet show. We got a new season,
we got a live show and people were excited about both. I was doing pretty good
reviewing a new episode from season 11 each month… until October when
everything went nutty. Still have Season 12 to look forward to in the not too
distant future, so I better get my reviews for Season 11 wrapped.

I turned May into a Star
Wars focused month again. That was mostly focusing on musings and
nostalgia. I delivered a full review of RogueOne out in December. I did see The
Last Jedi, but I want another viewing at home before I write that review.
It will appear on the blog in 2018 for sure.

Facing the uncertain future.

A big surprise to me was actually writing about current
movies in the month of their theatrical release. War for the Planet of the Apes and Blade Runner 2049 both got reviews shortly after I watched them in
theaters. Both were excellent science fiction films, and the Apes film in
particular felt like a wonderful triumph of a series. I spent three posts
gushing about it in many aspects and don’t regret a single word.

While I did miss out on writing about Miyazaki I did manage
to write a new 007 review. It had been a while since I revisted the series for
the blog, but I finally wrapped up the 1960s films with You Only Live Twice. I also finally got around to writing about one
of my favorite directors David Lynch, as I took an in depth look at Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, one if
his darkest and most disturbing films. I hope to continue looking at delving a
bit deeper into these waters in 2018.

Is it time to move beyond these reboots?

I had to give Star
Trek some blog time as well and September was pretty Trek heavy with a deep
dive into Insurrection and looking
at music and the films from a wider angle. I’m creeping my way through the Star Trek films and need to give Beyond another view before I write
about it. I’m not sure how I feel about that film after my first viewing.

I stuck with the horror film focus in October and once again
had a lot of fun with the short reviews and some dives into different aspects
of the genre. I had a blast writing about Subspecies II in which I delved far deeper into the film than it perhaps deserved.

November is usually reserved for all MST3K all the time, but
this year I shook things up a bit by focusing on cheesy 1980s fantasy films.
This was so much fun to write and watch, I might do it again next year. I
finally got a review of Hawk The Slayer
up, something I’ve wanted to do for years.

Game on!

About that time something happened that changed the course
for this blog. While doing all this research on Dungeons and Dragons for the Barbarian Ageblog post, I discovered that the Role Playing Game was alive and
thriving online. The more research I did the more I realized that I missed
writing and storytelling from this perspective.

Long story short, I’m actually playing D&D again. The
game has changed quite a bit since when I last played in the early 1990s. It
focuses a lot more on storytelling and characters – which means you end up
writing all this material for the character you are playing. To be honest all
that writing is going to eat up the writing time I can spend on the movie blog.

Soon... soon.

So 2018 is probably going to be a lighter year for this
blog. I’ll keep posting things each month, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to
keep up the weekly schedule. I’m thinking there will be fewer deep dive
reviews. Instead I’ll focus on the shorter reviews and more editorial blog
posts that don’t require quite as many screen captures and editing.

That said, I’m going to be writing some new material for my
other blog Storytelling in All Its Forms,
focusing more on my D&D experience and how that works out. I can say I’m
currently playing two different campaigns and I’m really enjoying the
experience.

Thank you so much for reading my work in 2017 and
commenting. I really appreciate it and all the encouragement you’ve provided
this year. If you have any suggestions or films you’d like to have me review,
don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’ll be happy to give it a try.

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About Me

I'm a writer who loves movies, books, video games and music. Wow, that's pretty generic eh? Been a staff writer for DVD Verdict.com and animeondvd.com. I worked at a video store for nearly 10 years. Still working on genre fiction both short and novel length.